FinTech Europe | 2023 #24
Weekly news up to Tuesday, 13th of June 2023
REPORT
A sneak preview of the INNOPAY Open Banking Monitor Q1 2023: The old guard are embracing new opportunities.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
The Netherlands becomes first country to launch fully contactless public transport payments system nationwide, all public transport across the country - including trains, buses, metros, and trams - now accept OVpay.
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👨💻 BLOG
Localizing embedded finance in Germany: what we have learned so far.
Localized product features drive trust. In particular, when it comes to bank account numbers, there is a persistent and sticky problem of citizens discriminating against IBANs not issued in their home country.
Read the full Swan blog post here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️Sprinque bags €20M in debt facility to help Europe’s B2B Merchants.
⭐️PSD3 is evolving: Let’s unpack the complicated (and often misunderstood) EU Payment Services Directive and learn what the next stage in the evolution of open banking means to EU merchants.
⭐️GoCardless lays off 15% of staff.
⭐️ Pigment snaps €80 million in Series C to speed up automation into its planning platform.
⭐️ The German branch of Silicon Valley Bank is looking for a buyer.
PAYMENTS
Atoa closed a $6.5m seed funding round led by Valar Ventures.
Brite extends instant payments coverage to belgium.
Payrails raised $14.4 million in a seed extension round led by EQT Ventures to scale its financial operations platform.
LoopingOne raises €2 million in seed funding.
Lunar opens up infrastructure to enable instant payments in the Nordics.
American Express and Bluechain announce partnership to streamline SME payment processes.
CAB Payments eyes £1 billion valuation in London IPO.
Hokodo acquires Lithuanian payments business making it the first and, currently, only B2B Buy Now, Pay Later provider with a payments licence.
Atoa secures $6.5m in seed funding.
DJUST raises $12 million to simplify B2B commerce.
Zofi Cash secures $1m to scale salary advance services.
BNPL
Klarna enters Romania with ‘Pay in 3’ service and shopping app both of which guarantee fast, secure, and effortless payments.
OPEN BANKING
Mastercard launches new open banking innovation in Europe to accelerate financial inclusion.
HSBC rebrands, expands its SVB UK buy as HSBC Innovation Banking.
CRYPTO
Hawk AI and Scorechain partner to Introduce an End-to-End Transaction Monitoring Solution for Enhanced Compliance.
Bitstamp partners with Fiat Republic’s to offer clients access to instant fiat and crypto liquidity.
A16z chooses London as destination for first office outside U.S. The firm plans to use the office to fund growth in the crypto and startup ecosystems in the U.K. and Europe.
BLOCKCHAIN / DEFI
Nebeus raises €1.2 million on Seedrs and announced plans to launch its DeFi wallet.
INVESTMENT
Banxware and Rabobank announced a new partnership at Money2020, aimed at making short-term financing more accessible for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SMEs).
Teya teams with Liberis to further support their customers by offering pre-approved revenue-based finance through a simple application journey.
Lightico announced its acquisition of Vizolution, which positions the joint company as the global leader in B2B2C Digital Completion for the financial services and telecom industries.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Opensee has appointed Anne-Laure Delaplace to the new role of Chief Operating Officer as it deepens its senior leadership team to drive the company on its growth trajectory.
N26 Chief Growth Officer Alexander Weber to leave his role by end of June 2023.
Yapily appointed Tanya Ziv as Chief Operating Office to lead its operations and further its position as the leading open banking platform in the UK and Europe.
Cubed is delighted to announce the appointment of two senior appointments - Ben Snowman as Advisor and Olivia Noble as Head of Marketing.
FINTECH MAPS
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.